Microsoft Strikes Deal for Music — In a rare move, Microsoft said yesterday that it had agreed to pay a percentage of the sales of its new portable media player to the Universal Music Group. — Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi, will receive a royalty on the Zune player in exchange …

Trying Out the Zune: IPod It's Not — Microsoft is probably the greenest company in all of high tech. Not green in the environmental sense — green with envy. — Microsoft is so jealous of the iPod's success that Tuesday it will unveil a new music system — pocket player …

Microsoft, Zune & The Music Mafia — The New York Times reports that Microsoft has cut a deal with Universal Music Group which will allow the music giant to get a percentage of the sale of its upcoming digital music player, Zune. The report says that the amount being paid to UMG is going to be at least $1 per $250 device.

Microsoft's Zune Challenges iPod — Next week, Microsoft Corp. will launch the most serious challenge ever mounted to Apple Computer's iPod and iTunes juggernaut in digital music. The software giant is introducing a portable player called the Zune, an online music store called Zune Marketplace …

And the winners are: — After deep thought, long and careful deliberations, numerous trips to the coffee pot, three bottles of Visine and an absolute minimum of coin-flipping, I am delighted to present the 2006 Fierce 15. — This list, as any such list must be, is subjective …

The Baby Billionaires of Silicon Valley — The Internet's new boom kids are poised to take over the world — if they don't crash first — >> Think you've got the chops to make it big? Get your brag on and see what other readers are saying about the Web 2.0 elite. — Did someone order a lap dance?

For Start-Ups, Web Success on the Cheap — When Seth J. Sternberg and two colleagues started Meebo, a Web-based instant-messaging service, they didn't go looking for venture capitalists. Using their credit cards, they financed the company themselves to the tune of $2,000 apiece.

EULA La Vista, Baby — There have been a lot of concerns about the end-user license agreement for Windows Vista. For instance, once you agree to the license you are not allowed to publish benchmark results without Microsoft's permission, and you can't install Vista on a virtual machine unless you shell out for the pricier version.

Q&A: Fox Interactive's Ross Levinsohn — GOOGLE TIES, GROWTH OVERSEAS ON THE MENU — Fox Interactive Media — the digital division of News Corp. formed last summer when it acquired the popular Web site MySpace — has mushroomed under President Ross Levinsohn, 43, formerly president of Fox Sports Interactive Media.

WEB 2.0: Google CEO: Take your data and run — Google wants to make the information it stores for its users easily portable so they can export it to a competing service if they are dissatisfied, the company's CEO said Tuesday. — Making it simple for users to walk away from a Google service …

A factory of one's own — According to MIT's Neil Gershenfeld, the digital revolution is over, and the good guys won. The next big change will be about manufacturing. Anyone with a PC will be able to build anything just by hitting 'print.' — (Fortune Magazine) — Imagine a machine with the ability to manufacture anything.

AdSense launches new channel targeting feature for advertisers — If you log into your AdSense account today and go through the process of adding a new custom channel, you will now see a checkbox underneath the field you enter your channel name into, stating "Targeting: Show this channel to advertisers as an ad placement".

Google Wears a Bullseye At Web 2.0 — SAN FRANCISCO — The second day of the Web 2.0 Summit featured some of the Internet's heaviest hitters talking strategy, new products and how to compete with search king Google, one of several sponsors of the event. — "There is immense opportunity …

Google Accidentally Sends Out Kama Sutra Worm — Staffers mistakenly e-mail the virus to subscribers of the Video Blog mailing list. — Google accidentally sent out e-mail containing a mass mailing worm to about 50,000 members of an e-mail discussion list focused on its Google Video Blog, the company said Tuesday.

Single Ajax Interface For Yahoo Mail & IM Coming — This morning Yahoo will announce that they will integrate an Ajax version of Yahoo Instant Messaging directly into the new Yahoo Mail beta. Unlike Google's integration of Google Talk with Gmail earlier this year, Yahoo is combining the products into a single interface.